"What?"
"A tiny lock of your hair, as a souvenir when I am far away from Bermuda."
"Oh—is that all!" she exclaimed, and with the scissors that lay near her she snipped off a tress and coiled it into the locket, laughing merrily the while. "You will come and see Papa again to-morrow, and let him thank you for me again," said she, interrupting Derval's thanks, and seeing that he had risen from his chair.
"For me there is no to-morrow, of leave at least—we must sail ere the tide ebbs, and make a good offing by sunset. And now," he added, yet lingeringly, "I must say good-bye."
"Bon voyage, Miss Sampler would say; but a pleasant voyage home to England I wish you with—with all my heart, Mr. Hampton," she said, as her smile died away, for recalling the episode which made them acquainted, the young girl's heart grew very full, and her beautiful eyes too.
"Will you give me one kiss ere I go?" said Derval, considering she was but a child he addressed.
"Oh yes!" was the frank response, as she innocently held up her mouth, and the memory of the kiss given by those sweet rosebud-like lips, haunted Derval pleasantly for many a month to come, when many a league of ocean lay between him and the Summer Isles.
Next day saw the Amethyst in the pilot's hands, working out of the tortuous channel between the reefs, her yards being braced up sharp, and her tacks being carried far aft to port and starboard alternately. As she passed in view of Government House the ports were triced up and she fired nineteen rounds from her brass nine-pounders in honour of Lord Oakhampton, the flag on whose residence was dipped to her three times in farewell.
By that time she was clear of all the rocks; her yards were squared, and with a fair wind she bore away north-eastward into the evening sea, the watery highway to "Old England."
Some two months after this found Derval, after quitting the Amethyst at the West India Dock—ever in his mind associated with the awful day of London fog in which he first saw it—hastening homeward on a few weeks' leave, and having with him, sailor-like, presents for all there: a tiger-skin from the Cape for his father's study; furs of the platypus, soft and grey, from Australia, to make muffs and cuffs for Mrs. Hampton, and a shawl for her too; a shark's skull for Mr. Asperges Laud; a model junk for little Rookleigh; several cosy things for old Patty Fripp; and, moreover, he had shells, horns, idols, queer ornaments, and all the curious omnium gatherum which sailors usually pick up—the gathered spoil of years of wandering and affection.